Westport News

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

Absent:    Charles Baron (CB)

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

2.    Agricultural/Open Space Bond:    HM looked into the matter and said that the expenses belong to the gift fund, not the bond.  He has forwarded the information to Michael Coughlin, Town Administrator, for adjustment.  MC said he will advise after he speaks to the BOS.

3.    Minutes:    JM made a motion to accept the minutes of October 13th as is.  WM seconded the motion and all were in favor with LA abstaining because she was not in attendance.

WM made a motion to accept the minutes of October 20th as is.  JM seconded the motion and all were in favor with LA abstaining because she was not in attendance.

WM made a motion to accept the minutes of October 27th as is.  TP seconded the motion with a correction to add her to those in attendance.  All were in favor of the minutes with the amendment.

4.    Special Town Meeting:    TV brought up a brief review of the Town By-law Article III Section 302 and 303.  (See attached.)  These deals with the Fincoms role in holding public hearings to discuss the articles presented for town meeting.  He spoke with town counsel and they felt that the hearings the Fincom held for the STM were in line with the town by-law.  

5.    Budget Update:    Michael Coughlin, Town Administrator, was in attendance to speak on the budget issues facing the town.  He distributed his budget strategy going forward.  (See attached.)  He started by saying that we have closed the gap in the FY10 budget to set the tax rate.  This does not include any expenditure for Snow & Ice or if the governor makes any other cuts.  We have been lucky to not lay anyone off as of yet.  BM asked about revenue enhancements.  There is currently $500k in unpaid real estate tax bills and of that, $95k is in tax taking.  HM wanted to know if anyone has looked into our inventory of town owned land.  MC said there is a committee in place and the list is with the BOS.  LA said there are items behind the Highway barn that can be sold for profit and if anyone has looked into it.  The Highway Surveyor had addressed this at previous meetings.  LA made a motion to send a letter to the BOH to request that they seriously consider raising the Transfer Station sticker fee to $30 per year.  The motion was seconded and was passed 7-1.  The survey that was done by CB concluded that they would have something done regarding the Transfer Station by January 10th.  LA made a motion to send a letter to the BOH to look into scales for the Transfer Station.  It was seconded by JB and the vote was 2-6 in opposition.   

6.    Other:    TV mentioned that at the annual meeting of Finance Committees, Westport is in better shape than most other towns.
        TV spoke on the municipal seminar regarding shared services.  He felt that not many were in favor of this option.
        JM sent a memo out regarding long range planning.  (See attached.)
                                    
 Adjournment and next meeting: There being no further business to come before this meeting, LA moved and TP seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:50pm.  The vote in favor was unanimous.   The next meeting will be on November 24th at 7:00 p.m.
                            
Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Botelho, Recording Secretary