Westport News

Present:    Bob McCarthy (BM), Jack Baughan (JB), Charles “Buzzy” Baron (BB), Hugh Morton (HM), John Miller (JM), Mark Carney (MC), Tracy Priestner (TP), Marybeth Ferrarini (MF), Warren Messier (WM)

1.    HM, Chair, opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. with the traditional salute to the flag.

2. Transfer Station:    Sean Leach (SL) and Dr. John Colletti (JC) were in attendance to give a presentation regarding the Transfer Station enterprise fund.  BB immediately made a motion that Fincom seeks bids from private companies to run the Transfer Station.  HM stated that Fincom does not have the authority to do that.  BB said the six months are almost up and something needs to be done soon.  JC started the presentation by saying they are looking at locking in a five-yr. contract for tipping fees and have begun working on an article for special town meeting to authorize them to do so.  They handed out a business plan (see attached).  This details the operations of the transfer station to date and going forward.  They have also sent out letters to several companies to request quotes on the cost of running the transfer station.  A technical assistance grant has been applied for.  This will allow the BOH to hire someone to guide them through this process and detail each option.  A Dr. White from UMASS has offered some marketing students to help get more business with pamphlets and ads.  Some of the costs can be greatly reduced by investing in new equipment.   BB stated that they are not following any of Kathy Mirza’s ideas.  She suggested that throw-as-you go bags were the most cost effective.  JC said that other towns had problems with the bags in not getting paid by the stores that carried the bags for the town.  BB says we still need more research on this and that he doesn’t all the problems the BOH are describing.  Michael Coughlin, Town Administrator, said we do need change and the fact is that we need to stop the deficit in this department and that the Town Accountant and Auditor say the revenue numbers the BOH are using are too high.  JM said the other problem is who is going to manage the Transfer Station once the enterprise is in place.

3.    Oscar Palmer Farm:    Chris Detwiller, TTOR, and Barbara Hanley, Agricultural/Open Space Trust Fund, were in attendance to speak on this matter.  (See attached)  TTOR has provided $901k to purchase the farm and there will be a conservation restriction and a historic preservation restriction placed on the property.  Members of the Fincom have reviewed the two restrictions and have few changes to the documents.  The Fincom was assured that TTOR has in place everything at their disposal to enforce the restrictions.  They have independent professionals who monitor the property and report any findings to Peggy Stevens, Executive Director of the Land Trust.  JB made a motion and TP seconded the motion to accept the restrictions as written with a small change in Paragraph 7 to be sent to the Fincom by the next meeting.  All were in favor of this motion.

4.    Capital Equipment Fund:    JM spoke on the establishment of a Capital Equipment Fund to be run such as the Stabilization Fund in that it needs a 2/3 vote of town meeting to put any monies into it or withdraw any monies from it.  He met with CIPC and they voted to accept this and MGL says we can have this type of fund.  BM made a motion and JB seconded the motion to recommend to the BOS that they place an article on the special town meeting warrant to establish such a fund.  All were in favor of this motion.

5. Other:
1. HM spoke on the letter to the BOS to appoint a member of the Fincom to the Alternative Energy Committee.  They did not want to add another member to the Committee but were not opposed to having one of the Fincom members attend the meetings.  JB made a motion and TP seconded it to have JB attend the Alternative Energy Committee meetings and report back to Fincom.  All were in favor of this motion.
2. JB spoke briefly regarding contract negotiations and feels that a member of the Fincom should be involved.  Mike Coughlin said that the negotiating team is already in place.  JB wanted to now what the goals of the BOS are in the negotiations but Mike reminded him that negotiations were held in executive session and that the employees know what is going on at all times.  
3. JB stated that we need to take a closer look at health care costs that are increasing every year.  JM suggested we invite George Foster, Treasurer, to the next meeting to discuss this further.

Adjournment and next meeting: There being no further business to come before this meeting, JM moved and BM seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:10pm.  The vote in favor was unanimous.  The next meeting will be on October 12th at 7:00 p.m. at the Westport Town Hall.
                            
Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Botelho, Recording Secretary