Westport News

Present:    Jane Loos (JL), Bob McCarthy (BM), Warren Messier (WM), John Miller (JM), Tony Vieira (TV), Hugh Morton (HM), Lisa Arnold (LA)

Absent:    Meryl Moss (MM)

1.  JL, Chair, opened the meeting at 7:00 pm with the traditional salute to the flag.

2.  JL announced that Meryl Moss has resigned.  She asked all members if they knew of anyone who would like to serve to please contact Stephen Fors.  Any reassigning of liaison duties will be done at the next meeting pending replacement members.

3.  Minutes of Previous Meetings:  December 2, 2008:  WM moved and BM seconded a motion to accept the minutes as circulated.  The vote in favor was unanimous with LA abstaining.

January 8, 2009:  TV moved and BM seconded a motion to accept the minutes as circulated.  The vote in favor was unanimous with WM and JM abstaining.
    
4.  Highway Dept.: Jack Sisson, Highway Surveyor, and his attorney, Ken Mello, appeared to discuss the current lawsuit against himself and the town by David Garant.  Mr. Sisson started by submitting a memo regarding the deficit in the Snow & Ice budget.  He requested that Fincom approve the deficit spending for FY09 (See attached.)  TV made a motion to approve the deficit up to $150,000.00.  BM seconded the motion and all were in favor.  

Mr. Sisson then went on to inform the Fincom of the vacancies in his department and his unwillingness to fill them due to the litigation at hand.  Mr. Mello then proceeded to give the Fincom the background surrounding the litigation.  Mr. Sisson asked the Fincom to fund his attorney’s fees.  JL sited opinion from town counsel pertaining to this.  TV made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the opinion citing it was confidential.  WM seconded it and much discussion ensued.  At this time, a ten-minute recess was taken.

After the board reconvened, the motion on the floor for executive session was withdrawn.  LA told Mr. Sisson that at this time, the Fincom could not do anything for him regarding attorney’s fees.  These fees, along with other matters, are the subjects of litigation between the Town and Mr. Sisson.  It was not the place of Fincom to act on matters under litigation.

5.  Town Accountant:  Terry Provencal, Town Accountant, appeared to discuss the current year’s financial report card.  She stated that FY09 expense and revenues were running at 50%, which was dead on for half way through the year.  There was no word yet if the state aid was going to be cut for FY09.  The FY08 audit reports were on their way and that the audit for the Highway department was scheduled sometime in March.

6.  School:  JM distributed some material regarding the school department (See attached).  These included information regarding the negotiations of the agreement of indirect costs between the town and the school.  One sticking point has been the resource officer.  JM feels this will be settled soon.  He also stated that he and JL met with superintendent, Linda Galton, and she assured them that they would have the bus contract signed and in place before Town Meeting.  TV, who represents the Fincom on the superintendent search committee, reported on the superintendent position.  The position has been advertised and will be closing in early February.   TV suggested that the final selection for superintendent not be made until after the elections in April.  At that time, there will be a new school committee in place.  TV also made a suggestion that Fincom might suggest some questions to ask during the screening process.

Adjournment and next meeting:  There being no further business to come before this meeting, WM moved and BM seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:00pm.  The vote in favor was unanimous.   The next meeting will be February 10th at 7:00 pm.
                            

Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Botelho, Recording Secretary