Westport News

Present:    Warren Messier (WM), Tony Vieira (TV), Lisa Arnold (LA), Bob McCarthy (BM), Jack Baughan (JB), Tracy Priestner (TP), Charles “Buzzy” Baron (BB), Hugh Morton (HM), John Miller (JM)

1.    TV, Chair, opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. with the traditional salute to the flag.

2.    FY11:    A spreadsheet detailing the cuts voted on by the BOS was distributed.  TV cautioned that the amount shaded in green was the Federal stimulus funds that were going directly to the schools. (See attached.)  
        Fincom Budget:    WM motioned to cut the budget back to last year if $3,400.  The vote was 7-2 in favor.
        Town Farm:    HM made a motion to decrease the budget by $1,000.  JM seconded it and the vote was 8-1 in favor.
        Dog Officer:    Donna Lambert, Interim Dog Officer, was in attendance to speak on this matter.  She said this is an on-call position with no one to cover for sickness.  She feels the budget should be brought back to $31,000, which was in FY09.  Mr. Coughlin said this position is still in a state of flux until the BOS and the BOH decided what they want this position to be.  TV suggested we look at a 6-month budget and revisit in the fall giving the two departments time to discuss this.  JM made a motion and HM seconded the motion to give the Dog Officer a budget of $15,000 for 6 months.  The vote was 5-4 in favor.
        Street Lights:    TV said we need a report from the safety officer as to how many street lights we actually need and the public safety impact of decreasing the number of street lights in town.  LA made a motion and BM seconded the motion to decrease the street light budget by $5,000.  The vote was unanimous in favor of this cut.
        Transfer Station:    This budget was discussed because the Budget Subcommittee voted for $160,000 for 6 months.  This budget was adjusted to that level.
        Veterans Graves:    There was an error in this budget and it was decreased to the correct level.
    TV said after this, we are very close to a balanced budget.          
    JM made a motion and HM seconded it to accept the FY11 budgets as presented and amended tonight.  The vote was 8-0 in favor. (One member had left by this time.)    

3.    Annual Town Meeting:    (See attached for recommendations.)  
    Article 1:    According to the Town Accountant, there are not many articles to be swept this year and those that can be are surrounded by controversy.
    Article 2:    TV wanted to take a closer look at the part-time elected officials and that a lot of towns are eliminating their compensation all together.   JM made a motion and JB seconded it to decrease the total by 5%.  The vote was defeated 1-8.  This is because the budget cuts previously discussed are on a department by department basis and some of the salaries in Article 2 have already been cut but have not been finalized for the warrant.
    Article 6:    LA started by speaking about the Budget Subcommittee meeting with the BOH that passed the change of the Transfer Station to an Enterprise Fund.  BB thinks the Fincom should keep open the discussion regarding the Transfer Station being privatized.  The BOH is already working on a business plan for the Enterprise Fund and a marketing plan and a startup commitment to the Town.  
    Article 40:    Donna Lambert, Interim Dog Officer, spoke briefly on the changes being proposed to this by-law.  One minor change was made to the wording.
    Article 42:    There was some controversy on the recommendation made regarding this article.  It had been voted on at two subsequent meetings.  Jim Whitin and Elaine Ostroff, Planning Board, were in attendance and spoke regarding this article and the importance of it.  LA made a motion and WM seconded it to reconfirm the original vote taken on April 20th.  All were in favor.
    Article 36:    Elaine Ostroff explained that this was purely a clarification in definition of the by-law.
    Article 37:    HM raised the question of item 13.2.1 and wondered if this had passed Town Counsel.  Ms. Ostroff stated there had been no comment yet from them and would let Fincom know as soon as a decision was made.
    Article 38:    Ms. Ostroff again stated this was a wording change from “may” to “shall”.  HM questioned this.  Mr. Whitin was told by our attorney that we are obligated, mandated, to make this change.  
    Article 46-49:    WM suggested that since these are to accept new roads, the committee should not make a recommendation at this time and leave it up to town meeting.  TV asked the Planning Board to pass these four roads to the Highway Surveyor and the BOS.  
    Article 28:    WM spoke briefly on this article for CPC.  He said the budget will be $458,131.00 (see attached).  TV suggested we use reserves to fund this before new revenues.

4.    Other:    TV requested that all budget details be submitted to the Fincom.  BB made a motion and JB seconded it that once all the figures are prepared, the Fincom will schedule a meeting to let everyone come in and discuss the figures.  The meeting will be on May 25th.  The vote was 8-0 in favor of this meeting.

5.    Minutes:    The minutes of April 27th were presented for approval.  WM made a motion and BM seconded it to approve the minutes as presented.  The vote was 8-0 in favor.

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 10:50pm.  The vote in favor was unanimous.  The next meeting will be on May 25th at 6:30 p.m. at the Westport Town Hall.   A continuation of meetings will be posted on May 26th and 27th at 6:30 p.m. if needed.  
                            
Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Botelho, Recording Secretary