WESTPORT–When they are sworn in on Nov. 17, the RTM will have nine new members.
Several of the new members were voted in by their district residents. Gail Coykendall (D1), Jenna Petok, (D2), Adam Drake (D3), Charles Lucas and Victoria Wylie (D4) and Addison Moore (D9) each garnered enough votes in Tuesday’s contested district elections.
Joe Carson (D7), Jill Greyson (D8) and Josh Newman (D8) ran unopposed in districts with only four candidates.
As the legislative arm of the Town of Westport, the RTM signs off on all town expenditures greater than $20,000. The RTM also has the power to overturn decisions made by most other town bodies.
Westport Journal reached out to a couple of the RTM’s members of longest standing to find out what sort of impressions the noobs have made on their elders and what advice those elders have for the new blood.
Matt Mandell, a 20-year member of the RTM, told Westport Journal,
“I see we may have the youngest-ever RTM member joining our group. The chamber honored Addison Moore with a Young Entrepreneur award just a few years ago, when he was at Staples. . . . While institutional knowledge is of course key, having such new and possibly forward-thinking perspectives might jump start some new directions.”
When asked if he had any advice for the rookies, Dick Lowenstein, a 22-year member of the RTM, told Westport Journal,
“Listen before you talk. You’ll be on the RTM for two years so you will have plenty of time to talk. Committee assignments are a very important part of your work on the RTM. Look at all of the RTM committees and the scope of their responsibilities. Which ones best match your interests and capabilities?”
Jeff Wieser, the current RTM moderator, said the orientation for new members will be handled during the first meeting they attend after being sworn in. “At the Dec. 2 meeting, we elect a Moderator and Deputy Moderator . . . . There we explain committees and ask everyone to rank their interests.”
Congratulations to all the new RTM members.
Before you start your RTM term, and before you vote for a new moderator, please ask yourself what you believe Sec. A162-6 in the Town Charter means to you.
“The Moderator or, in the event of the Moderator’s inability to act, the Deputy Moderator or, in the event of the inability of both, the Town Clerk shall place on the agenda of the Representative Town Meeting such matters as the First Selectman, two Representative Town Meeting members or 20 electors of the Town may request by written notice delivered to the Moderator or the Town Clerk not less than 14 days prior to a Representative Town Meeting, not including the day of the meeting or the day of delivery of the notice. The Moderator may place any item on the agenda for any Representative Town Meeting.”
And I do want to point out that when I asked Don O’Day earlier this year about his RTM vote in which he denied the petitioners rights to freely add items to the RTM agenda, he said “That is one vote I wish I could have done over.”
This needs to be revisited.
Perfectly stated, John. It troubles me not a little that two of the perpetrators of this power grab were just reelected in D9. After the tsunami of ink that was spilled this past election season extolling the importance of transparency and accountability I’m modestly (Ok, very modestly) hopeful that perhaps one or more of these new RTMs will consider dressing this long festering wound. If they do, I believe there are other, sitting RTMs who haven’t yet gone native that might join the effort to repair this assault on our fundamental right as Westport citizens.