Westbrook Year in Review 2010

January

Town Hall Labor Union Deal: After months of negotiation, the Board of Selectmen and the town hall employees union reached agreement on a new two-year contract to raise employees' wages by three percent each year. Terms of the deal also allowed merit pay bumps for those employees with top performance grades under the deal's new employee-performance-appraisal system.

Finance Director

Candidate Interviews: The town's search for a new finance director moved to a new stage as a screening committee began interviews of qualified candidates who submitted applications by the deadline. More than a dozen candidates submitted applications by the end of December, the date the town stopped accepting applications for the post that would pay $68,000 to $78,000 a year.

Sanitarian Search Begins Again: The town's selectmen once again opened a search for a registered sanitarian willing and able to accept the town's offer of a full-time position. Two previous searches attracted interested candidates, but were ultimately unsuccessful.

February

Non-Union Employees Win Raises: By a unanimous vote, the town's selectmen extended to the town's non-union employees a three percent raise for the 2009-2010 budget year, retroactive to July 1, 2009. Future raises for this non-union group were to range from 2.5 percent to 4 percent based on each employee's annual performance appraisal.

Town Signs On for Regional Energy Grant: Tapping into nearly $300,000 in stimulus funding was the goal of the town's Board of Selectmen, which agreed to join with six other shoreline towns in applying for a regional energy grant. The grant would fund the hiring of an energy management expert to help these towns improve their energy management in the next two years.

School Leaders

Propose Budget: The proposed superintendent's budget for the next fiscal year would add capital maintenance funds to fix equipment, replace the district's 84 oldest computers, add a health teacher at the high school, and add special education teaching support at the middle school and in the mandated pre-school program. The proposed $14,322,717 budget, if approved by the Board of Education, would increase spending by 5.57 percent.

Students Start Energy Patrol: The spark may have been $4,000 in federal stimulus funds to pay for program materials, but the fuel for Westbrook's new Energy Patrol conservation program was youthful energy. A team of high school students committed to accelerating energy conservation efforts in town kicked off the new Energy Patrol program with a skit, an original song, and an energy savings contest at Daisy Ingraham Elementary School.

Westbrook 2009 Grand List: Benefits from the federal Cash for Clunkers program combined with a small increase in real estate values increased Westbrook's overall Grand List value. The new Net Grand List of Taxable Property rose by $5.2 million from $1,327,648,321 in 2008 to $1,332,924,274 in 2009.

March

New Permitting Software: The Board of Finance concurred that the land use department should use $16,000 in its office machine budget to buy a new software module for tracking permits. The new package would be compatible with the town's accounting software.

Energy Stimulus Funding Grant: A federal energy stimulus grant awarded to the town would provide $4,000 for a school energy education program, $10,000 to replace an aging and failing water heater at the Westbrook Middle School/High School campus, and $30,000 to town engineer Woodward and Curran to develop a town energy plan.

Selectmen Form Charter Committee: The new official Charter Study Committee would be asked to study both the advantages and disadvantages of creating a town charter for the town of Westbrook.

Ed Budget Proposes 4.34 Percent Increase: Keeping cuts out of the classrooms as much as possible, the Board of Education reduced the Superintendent of School's proposed a 5.57 percent budget increase by 1.23 percent to a new increase of $588,457 or 4.34 percent.

Shoreline Arts Alliance Announces Award Winners: The Future Choices award winners from area towns were announced and showcased this month.

April

Audit Results: Seward and Monde found for the second consecutive year that the town had a "material weakness" in its management of financial risk. "What we're still looking at is that there still is not an infrastructure of internal [financial] controls: no one was responsible for documenting controls department by department," said the auditors' Pasquale Trotta. "Job descriptions, forms for processing financial transactions, appear to never have happened, though the financial consultants have come and gone."

Need for Youth Center Aired: The town committee that was investigating the need for a new town youth center presented its findings to the Board of Selectmen this month.

Events for Kids and Adults: The Valley-Shore YMCA held its 18th annual Healthy Kids Day and the Westbrook Garden Club held its annual plant sale on the Town Green.

More Emergency

Dredging Funds Approved: Voting to open the town's checkbook for $100,000 for emergency dredging, the town agreed to finish clearing the Patchogue River entrance channel to its design width and depth.

First Beach Pass is Now Free: By unanimous vote, the Board of Selectmen eliminated the $10 charge for a property owner's first town beach parking pass. Subsequent passes or replacement passes still would require a resident to pay $10 fee before they were issued.

May

New Budget Proposal: The Board of Finance voted to send a $25,415,592 budget to the voters at referendum. The budget was an increase of $961,378 over the previous year and would increase spending by 3.93 percent.

Treasurer Files Second FOI Complaint: Exactly one year after town leaders signed a stipulated agreement acknowledging behavior by them that was inconsistent with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Town Treasurer Darlene Jones filed a second FOI complaint alleging town leaders had violated the act again with respect to notice and content of a March executive session.

The Dredger Arrives: Congressman Joe Courtney's office announced that the Currituck dredge owned by the Army Corps of Engineers would begin dredging projects in the Westbrook and Clinton harbors this month.

Town Passes Budget by 56 Votes: The town voted in referendum to approve the proposed $25,415,592 budget, with 334 voting for the plan and 278 voting against it. The new budget increased town and school district spending by 3.93 percent and the mill rate to 17.25 mills, an increase of 0.95 mills.

Credit Union Branch Opens at WHS: Seasons Federal Credit Union's newest branch opened for business during the lunch hour at Westbrook High School with student tellers in training helping out.

June

Dump Closure Approved by DEP: Four years after the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) first told the town its landfill closure plan was inadequate, the town finally had a DEP-approved plan. A DEP letter commenting on the town's latest revision to its landfill closure plan stated that the town was now "in compliance" with state regulations for landfill closures.

School District Appoints New Business Manager: After an extensive search that yielded 18 applicants, the Board of Education selected Lesley Wysocki to replace retiring Chuck McWilliams as district business manager.

Shoreline Chambers of Commerce Join Forces: In a year in which the state cut its tourism budget to $1, town chambers joined together to form CenterShore to promote the shoreline activities and businesses.

Graduation Day: This month, Westbrook High School's senior class graduated.

July

Town Charter Study

Commission Appointed: Six years after two ad hoc study groups studied the option of a charter for the Town of Westbrook, the town's Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to create a formal Charter Study Commission. John Ferrara was chosen as chairman.

Town Finance Director Appointed-But then

Withdraws: The town finance director search committee settled on a candidate to fill the open post, but, shortly after Kimberly Brockett was introduced as the finalist at a selectmen's meeting, she withdrew her name from consideration.

Currituck Done

Dredging-but Humps Remain: Post-dredge soundings appeared to confirm what the Harbor Commission had hoped-the 24/7 week-long dredging of the Westbrook harbor entrance channel by the Army Corps of Engineers' Currituck dredge did clear most of the harbor entrance channel-but some areas of the channel were still only six or seven feet deep at mean low water instead of the promised eight feet.

July

Carnival Time: Westbrook Chemical Engine Company's 39th annual Carnival occurred this month.

Online Maps Go Live: This month the town's online

Geographic Information System (GIS) went live on the town's website, making it possible for the first time for homeowners to view an assessor's map of their property from their own computer.

Bond Refunding Should Yield Savings: An approved refunding sale of about $7 million of the town's outstanding bonds could yield a $317,000 in debt payment savings to the town, according to bond consultant Mark Chapman of IBIC.

Two Town Principals Start Terms Leading Two State Organizations: Two Westbrook school principals were picked by colleagues to lead state educational and athletic organizations for the next two years: The Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).

August

The 51st Annual Tattoo: More than 65 fife and drum corps from around the country gathered at Ted Lane Field for the annual muster's Friday evening opening event, the Tattoo, and then marched through town in a parade the next day.

McVeagh Road Stimulus Rebuild Nearly Done: Contractors working for the town installed the last of McVeagh Road's new curbing, private and public driveway aprons, and the new mid-road islands at the intersection of McVeagh Road and Route 153, bringing the $481,000 road rebuild project to a close.

Town Meeting Approves Grant and Reval Funds: At a Town Meeting electors accepted a $20,000 state grant for an architectural and historic resource survey and approved up to $220,000 to fund the 2011 state-mandated full property revaluation.

September

New Bus Shelters: The Estuary Transit District unveiled the first of its new bus shelters in Westbrook this month.

Rockfall Foundation Holds Annual Planning Symposium: This year's symposium offered presentations about opportunities for sharing state and local services to reduce costs.

Funds to Support Charter Study Approved: The Board of Selectmen approved an appropriation of $9,000 to fund the Charter Study Commission's work during this fiscal year. The budget, according to Chairman John Ferrara, would provide the commission with hours of staff support, consultant time (including legal), mailings, and legal advertisements to announce public hearings.

Shellfish Beds to Be Tested: With a motion from the Board of Selectmen, an Ad Hoc Shellfish Committee of volunteers was granted an appropriation of up to $1,500 to compensate volunteers for the costs to take and transport shellfish bed samples. The goal was to try to prove after a year of samples that shellfish from the beds were safe to eat.

Bond Sale Yielded

Savings: The refunding sale of $10.5 million in older bonds yielded

$895,522 in budgetary savings to the town over the next 17 years because it would now pay lower interest rates to investors in town debt than it did previously.

October

Pedal for PAWS Benefit: The 25K charity bike ride raised funds for Forgotten Felines.

Youth Center Study

Funding Approved: Up to $9,500 was approved for Woodward and Curran to gather information, analyze the community needs with independent eyes, and develop a preliminary financial assessment for a free-standing town Community Center. The firm committed to complete the study within three months.

Grant Approved for Town Center Parking: The plan to buy land for parking was cleared to proceed due to the $250,000 STEAP (Small-town Economic Assistance Program) grant the town was awarded by the state's Department of Economic and Community Development. The grant-funded purchase would be of two abutting parcels near the Town Green-one at 2 Westbrook Place and at 1224 Boston Post Road-that together total about one-half an acre.

Firm Selected for Regional Energy Contract: The six-town energy project supported by a regional stimulus grant held its kick-off meeting this month with SourceOne as its newly hired contractor.

Shoreline Chambers of Commerce Business

Conference and Trade Show: This month, the shoreline chambers sponsored this inaugural event at Water's Edge.

November

Town/State Land Swap Nearly Final: Four years after the town voted to swap the current town garage land on Norris Avenue for the state-owned road maintenance facility on Route 145, the state Department of Transportation and the town finally signed the deeds that would convey the two parcels.

Board of Selectmen Reject Finance Proposal for Legal Analysis: In a rejection of a Board of Finance vote urging the Board of Selectmen act, Selectmen Jim Crawford and John Hall did not support the proposal to have the town attorney draft an ordinance to appoint instead of elect a town treasurer, saying it was out of order. The issue is being weighed by the town's Charter Study Committee.

November Vote Outcome: In the November election, voters re-elect State Senator Eileen Daily and State Representative Marilyn Giuliano, elect Terrance D. Lomme the 33rd District regional probate court judge, and narrowly elect Jim Crawford as 35th District state representative, a race that also required a re-count.

Finance Director Appointed: Westbrook's new finance director Andrew Urban was appointed Westbrook's first town finance director. Urban would work part-time in the senior post, working an average of 25 hours per week.

December

Constable Termination Upheld: An appeals court ruling upheld a lower court ruling and the Town of Westbrook's decision in 2002 to terminate part-time Constable Douglas Senn for racial slurs he made about fellow officers in a staff meeting regarding work assignments.

Westbrook Foundation Gives Grant to Adopt-A-Spot Campaign: The foundation awarded a $3,820 grant to Westbrook Adopt-a-Spot to pay for signage to recognize adopters.

Holiday Generosity to Those in Need and

Celebrations of the Season: The Holiday Tree-Lighting Ceremony with Santa was held on the Town Green and the High School Interact Club filled the nearly empty food pantry with donations. The Westbrook Town Clerk's office challenge to town employees also yielded donations for the town's food pantry.